By Suraiya Kamaruzzaman

"Buai - buai kekasih hati,biji sawi dalam kaca, lekaslah pulang remaja kemala putri, pengganti ayah melawan Belanda"

The quotation above is a lyric of a poem, which was always sung by a mother while swinging the baby in the swing. This lyric described that how an Achenese child is educated with spirit of struggle. The spirit of struggle toward enemies has been planted in the soul of the Acehnese since birth. In the history of Aceh, it is stated that in the struggle the role of man and women are the same. Therefore, the bravery f Acehnese women became a reality. Aceh had some famous heroines such as Cut Nyak Dhien, Cut Meutia, Malahayati and others who had sacrificed their soul and body for defending their country from the colony. These women are the pride of Acehnese.

However, if we watch the current situation in Aceh, specially since the arrival of elite troops in Aceh marked as the hot spot and as the area of military operation the history of Aceh women seems sinking into the bottom of the sea. Acehnese have lost their pride because of the brutality of some armies who operated in Aceh since 1989 until 1998. The fact shows that since the coming of the elite armies in Aceh some tragedies happened. They happened toward men an women. Not few but many women got bad luck. They experience brutal actions as rape, violence, kidnapping, burning the houses belonging to the people, genocide, etc. This tragedies were not exposed by mass media in Indonesia. They were afraid to expose these tragedies, because of the pressure of the army. The area or the people who got traumatized are those people that live in three districts of Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh.

The bad impact of the existence of the elite army in Aceh is deeply experienced by women. They experienced violence a for along time and have been under tragic pressure for almost 10 years. These cases were never published or exposed in the mass media, printed nor electronic. However, since the wave of reformation appeared in Indonesia, due to the struggle of some NGO activists and some activists among the university students these cases were exposed in some media. They do not only expose and struggle for informing the public but further they accompanied the victims to meet the commission of human right in Jakarta. Of course, not all  the victims have been assisted. The attempt of the NGO and university students to help the victims was also done by inviting the team of investigators who investigate the case of human right in Indonesia.

Here is a real story of the violence towards women in Aceh. On October 1994, in a cold evening, suddenly a number of army personnel came to a village initialized as AB in Gandapura, North Aceh. Their coming to this village was to find Mr. YS a villager whose age was 48 years claimed as a rebel. YS was not at home only his wife (N) 6 months pregnant was at home. So N was taken as the substitute. Two days later, YS came home and found that his wife was not at home. Knowing his wife was kidnapped by the army, he directly went to report  the case to the army post. Unfortunately he found his wife had been hurt. It was really tragic because his wife's pregnancy had been operated by the army that caused her and her baby's death.  Mr. YS was really shocked .and the stress made him really mad. He was crazy for more than two years.

Most violence actions toward women in Aceh was never exposed in any media. It is due to the following reasons. They are:

1. Most victims of rape are shy to tell their problems, because these kinds of tragedy is really embarrassing. Therefore they always keep them as secrets

2. The intimidation of the doers for not telling the cases to other people, because the doers were the armies.

3. The traumatic experience of violence which experienced by them seems too hard to inform to other people.

4. There was an intimidation of certain people or institution toward NGO who accompany the victims.

The following are some examples of the cases of violence toward women in Aceh, the violation and the possible violators.

1. AS, AN adn BC, 24-year-old girls, from Sawang, North Aceh:   
The three victims were raped by some armies (their identities were unknown). After raping they were laid in three levels and then shot.

2. DN, 37-year-old woman, a house wife from Sawang, North Aceh: This pregnant woman (5 months) was raped by the army and then shot.

3. NA, 38-year-old, housewife, from Gandapura, North Aceh:
A number of troops came to her house asking her husband who has been labeled as a rebel. Because her husband was not at home, she was kidnapped as the substitute. She was Pregnant. She died after her womb was cut by the army.

4. SH, 32-year-old girl from Banda Dua Pidie: When she was keeping her coffee shop, suddenly a number of soldiers from Yonif 126 from Ule Gle came in drunk and disturbed her. She tried to escape from them but unfortunately HMS (an army) ran after her and pushed the door which had been locked by SH. Unfortunately HMS could break the door and came into the house. SH was raped . As the result she got pregnant and gave a birth but without legitimate as a wife and now she has a 14 months old boy.

5. SUM, A girl from Bandardua, Pidie: She fell in love with Sertu Har (a soldier from Yonif 126) who claimed himself  an unmarried man. He promised to marry SUM but he broke his promise. SUM had a pregnancy but Har did not want to be responsible of what he had done with SUM.

6. AN & LA, Girls from Ule Gie, Ti Pidie:  All of them were raped by the army. Their fathers were accused as the rebels and they were in the forest. Hoping their fathers could come back home they lost their own worth. One of the fathers came down from the forest but he was shot and killed.

7. KTJ, 45-year-old woman from Cot Baroh, Geulumpang Tiga, Pidie:
She was arrested and brought to Rumoh Geudong (a horse) by Kopassus (elite troop) after visiting her son in Malaysia. She was hurt, made naked and her breast and vagina were heated with electric for 15 days. She was taken twice. She was accused for keeping weapons. Because of that her house was damaged but the weapons were not found. She was then taken to Rumoh Geudong and was hurt too. She was not arrested anywhere but she had to pay Rp 500.000,-

8. MM, 45-year-old, a house wife from Cot Murray, Rimba, Mutiara Pidie: The victim was taken to Arun Post by the elite troop because she was accused of dealing with weapons. So she was undressed, violated, kicked, her breast and vagina were hurt electrically. She died after 4 days.

9. RS, 32-year-old, a house wife from Ujong Rimba in Mutiara Pidie: It happened in March 1998. She was arrested, kidnapped because of the absence of her husband. She and her father were taken to the elite army post and were interrogated, tortured by slapping, undressing, hurting with electric shock. She was arrested or one night. She was interrogated while she was sleeping and finally she could come back home because her husband came and arrested but now she doesn't know where her husband is.

10. AN, 25-year-old a woman from Didoh village Mutiara Pidie: 
It happened on March 1998. She was arrested by the elite troup and brought to Arun. When in she was interrogated, she was undressed and hurt with electric shock. She got tortured for one week and she got released.
Source: LBH, Flower and other NGOs from the witnesses, family and others.

The above description can indicate how bad the violence that was experienced by the victims. Most of them died, while the others are still in shock and handicapped physically and psychologically. The above data is only of a few examples while all victims are still in investigation.

The facts show that the existence of operational army in Aceh by the military with the signal "Red Net" caused negative impact in Aceh. The army did their task with their arrogancy authority. Some of them were out of procedure in doing their tasks. Therefore some tragic tragedies happened.

Therefore all of us demand that the army must leave Aceh - in a short time. For this to happen the strong cooperation and participation from all people, institution NGO and others are needed. We need to have solidarity action from women in the world in order to stop violence toward women in Aceh.

Fortunately, in August 1998 General Wiranto as the Chief as National Army declared operation is formally stopped in Aceh. But this declaration does not mean that everything is in order.